[/quote]The NDAA authorizes an overall increase in manpower by 4,000 Airmen increasing the Air Force active forces end strength to 321,000.[/quote]

Not sure about other services...got this from an af site.

For personnel compensation and benefits, effective Jan.1, the monthly basic pay will increase by 2.1 percent, and while there will not be any changes made to the administration of the housing allowance the NDAA directs the defense department to begin planning for a transition to a single-salary pay system no later than Jan. 1, 2018. The goal is to create a system that better aligns the payment with the DOD’s use of the housing allotment as compensation rather than as an allowance.

Plan for transition...does this mean they will transistion or just need to plan for it in case it happens next year?

The NDAA additionally authorizes the Air Force to increase aviation retention pay from $25,000 to $35,000 per year and flight pay up to $1,000 per month as needed to address manning shortfalls and challenges.

Also addressing staffing challenges, the Air Force is required to transition to an organizational model with enlisted remotely piloted aircraft pilots by Sept. 30, 2020, for the regular component and 2023 for the Air Force Reserve and Air National Guard.

The NDAA also directs improvements to military health care. One provision authorizes the Secretary of Defense to establish a self-managed, preferred-provider network option under the TRICARE program. This program – ‘TRICARE Select' – will be available to active duty family members, retirees, reserve, and young adults. Under TRICARE Select, eligible beneficiaries will not have restrictions on the freedom of choice of the beneficiary with respect to health care providers. Cost sharing requirements are determined by prior military status. In addition, some additional cost sharing fees for Tricare Prime retirees and family members and small increases to annual enrollment will be implemented. Another provision requires the DOD to improve access to urgent care services in both military medical treatment facilities and the private sector, while also requiring Military Treatment Facilities to expand hours on weekdays and weekends to ensure the availability of primary care services.

In addition, the NDAA authorizes up to 12 weeks of total leave for a primary caregiver, including up to six weeks of medical convalescent leave, to be used in connection with the birth of a child. It also allows a primary caregiver up to six weeks of total leave to be used in the case of an adoption. In each instance, a secondary caregiver is also authorized up to 21 days of leave.

This year’s authorization also contains a number of civilian hiring provisions, including direct-hire authorities for post-secondary students and recent graduates, wage schedule employees, financial management experts, industrial base facilities, major range and test facilities, and positions at DOD research and engineering laboratories. The NDAA also returned a restriction on the appointment of retired members of the armed forces to civil service positions in the DOD within 180 days of their retirement. Previous statute allowed that restriction to be waived based on a state of national emergency.

...hiring freeze...doh.

The first major reforms to the UCMJ in 30 years were also part of the authorization. The implementation of the reforms should improve efficiency and transparency, while also enhancing victims’ rights. The reforms include expanding the statute of limitations for child abuse offenses and fraudulent enlistment, and establishing new offenses ranging from improper use of government computers to retaliation to prohibited activities with military recruits and trainees by a person in a position of special trust.

SOL got longer for some things...

sandsjames

02-08-2017, 04:41 PM

I'll be paying close attention to the Tricare Retiree stuff. Of all those things in the NDAA, that's the one benefit that seems to get screwed with the most. Costs just keep going up. It's still very affordable, but it used to cost nothing. I wonder where it's going to stop. It seems to be the one benefit that changes from what it was at initial contract signing upon joining. Every other benefit gets grandfathers, but healthcare is free to be changed at the drop of a hat.

Mjölnir

02-09-2017, 07:58 AM

I'll be paying close attention to the Tricare Retiree stuff. Of all those things in the NDAA, that's the one benefit that seems to get screwed with the most. Costs just keep going up. It's still very affordable, but it used to cost nothing. I wonder where it's going to stop. It seems to be the one benefit that changes from what it was at initial contract signing upon joining. Every other benefit gets grandfathers, but healthcare is free to be changed at the drop of a hat.

By law, to change our retirement pay is much harder than changing the medical coverage system; due to the funding lines that are used to cover them and the medical coverage (while part of the overall compensation package) is not set in mandatory spending. Free medical for life wasn't sustainable as the retiree population got bigger, it is the most expensive part of our retirement packages; throwing an increase in percentage of AD base pay to retirement pay is nothing compared to what the average military retiree costs the government in medical bills.

I would guess that in the next 20 years it will turn into a slightly less expensive (subsidized) version of standard Medicare. Also, the costs of what the government is paying for military 'related' vice military 'connected/caused' disability is through the roof. When the total number of retirees was fairly small it was an absorb-able cost, with the numbers of people now that stay through retirement, and well meaning but gaming the system VA reps we bankrupted our own interests with the medical system.